After delays, controversial church proposal heads to South Barrington village board
After months of public inaction, a controversial plan to construct a church and school in South Barrington has cleared a key bureaucratic hurdle and is headed to the village board Thursday night for consideration.
But the fate of the landowner’s legal push to disconnect the property from the village hasn’t yet been decided.
Schaumburg-based Fourth Avenue Gospel is behind the proposal for the undeveloped land at Bartlett Road and Route 59. The 34-acre site is just north of the Woods of South Barrington neighborhood and is often called Area N.
The village’s plan commission on Monday formally recommended the board approve plans for a parking lot and a fence on the property, if the church and school are built.
Fences generally aren’t allowed in South Barrington, but one would be needed around the school to protect students playing during recess, Mayor Paula McCombie said in an email.
If the board approves the recommended elements, the plan then would move onto other village departments for administrative review, attorney James Vasselli said.
Fourth Avenue Gospel, which is owned and operated by a congregation of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, bought the land from the South Barrington Park District at an auction last year for $2.3 million.
The group created a limited liability company called Area N Development to bid on the land and close the purchase. A representative later said Fourth Avenue used that legal entity to avoid publicly identifying itself as the buyer until after the deal was finalized.
Fourth Avenue Gospel also won an auction for the land in 2023. But the park district board canceled the sale before a scheduled real estate closing because of community opposition to how the auction was run, among other issues.
A group of those opponents sued the park district to stop the sale after the second auction, claiming the board already had approved a bid in 2023. The plaintiffs also alleged Area N Development shouldn’t have been allowed to buy the property via the second auction because park district officials didn’t know the buyer’s real identity.
Village officials subsequently said the true owner of the property must be determined before the plan can be approved. On Wednesday, McCombie said Fourth Avenue representatives have shown village officials a deed proving ownership of the land.
In October, Fourth Avenue Gospel announced it would pursue disconnection of the land from South Barrington through the Cook County court system. The group said it intended to develop the property under Cook County’s zoning rules.
The case hasn’t been resolved, village officials said Wednesday.
Fourth Avenue Gospel representatives didn’t respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
Thursday’s board meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at village hall, 30 S. Barrington Road.